Monday, 4 May 2009

Swine Flu: UK Health Minister says the worst is yet to come.

"Doctors are being warned to prepare for a second, "much worse" wave of swine flu hitting Britain in the autumn, the Health Secretary has disclosed."

"Alan Johnson said that the lesson of past pandemics was that initially mild outbreaks had been followed by something "much more serious".

Read the entire article on the link above."Swine Flu: Inflatable mortuaries and 'express' funerals planned for flu pandemic."" Inflatable mortuaries, 24-hour cremations and "express" funerals could all be used to dispose of thousands of bodies in a flu pandemic, Whitehall papers show. "

"In the worst-case scenario, the bodies of the dead could also be stored in refrigerator trucks. Coffins would be reused to cope with the huge numbers of fatalities.

Department of Health projections put the total UK death toll from a pandemic as high as 750,000. It was confirmed in 2006 that officials have ordered millions of extra body bags as a precaution."

"A Home Office contingency planning document seen by the Daily Telegraph reveals the extreme measures that would be required to cope with the sheer number of extra corpses that are expected.

The 59-page report, "Planning for Possible Influenza Pandemic: A Framework for Planners Preparing to Manage Deaths" has been circulated to local councils, coroners and undertakers."